I get into these semi-marathon baking weekends once in a while and though I have made a record 13 different items in a 36 hour period once, this past weekend I made just four… I noticed that our fridges are jampacked with dried fruit and nuts so I wanted to make a dent in the baking stocks. First off, at The Kids request, I made some cranberry biscotti for her, which I have previously featured, recipe here… but she didn’t want any nuts in hers so these were just dried cranberries…she wants to take them to school for baon… how’s that for a merienda trading item in the cafeteria? I didn’t take a picture. Biscotti are super, super easy to make, and great to have on hand for a quick and relatively healthy snack. While browsing my cookbooks, I spied a great sounding recipe for brownie crisps… essentially the idea is similar to muffin tops… here the objective was to have the nice crusty top of the brownie but make it all a bit crispy, like a cookie.

It certainly sounded easy and the ingredients list was short, but it proved much harder to do in reality. It is a simple batter of butter, chocolate, flour, eggs, etc. that is spread very thinly on a pan and baked until just done then sliced quickly and scraped off the pan before it hardens. I managed to make two versions – one with chopped walnuts and one plain. The ones in the photos look pretty good, but I burned most of the edges and threw out half of the results. The crisps were indeed crisp for the first two hours after baking, but since local humidity levels must be at close to 90%, the crisps got moister as the day wore on and finally they were, well, LIMP. They still tasted good but they weren’t crisp. I managed to make an ice cream sandwich with two pieces of brownie crisps while crisp, sandwiching a nutella and chocolate ice cream The Kid concocted and that we made last week…

Worried about the dried stone fruit (apricots, nectarines, peaches), pears and raisins in the fridge, I decided to make a simple sounding “apricot + lots of other fruit and walnut loaf.” It was likewise really simple and it yielded a dense, yet relatively healthy cake/bread/loaf. I bet it will be better a day or two after it was made, sliced thinly and toasted, served with butter…. yum! Finally, with an abundance of pecans, I decided that since I love a good pecan pie, though I can only eat a sliver of it at a time, to bake some pecan squares. This turned out looking fabulous but cutting it wasn’t so easy even if I refrigerated it first. Never mind, it tasted brilliant (chewy, crunchy, sweet, gooey, rich, decadent)and served with pure cream, it was divine. I used very dark organic muscovado along with honey and a bit of white sugar for the mixture and it turned out delicious. Many of these baked goods are being sent out to friends as this goes to post, as I believe in fattening up others, so that I in turn will look slimmer…hahaha….

tings,the shortcut version, buy two chocolate chip cookies at Mrs. Fields or even grocery bought large packaged cookies, then put a scoop of softened ice cream between and voila… ice cream sandwich! grace, you should be able to just go ahead and vote on the poll, but if the results are already showing on your screen, that means someone has already voted from your computer… the poll limits each address to one vote only… Mary Ann, make some at home, they taste pretty good that way! aridelros, if you try enough other types of beer you will start to see the difference, but SMB is pretty good to begin with…

Jul 23, 2007 | 11:06 am

cc
says:

The picture of your walnut brownie cookie got my sweet tooth. Yum, yummmmmmmmy! Crispy and moist combination are the best. It looks delicious … and wish it was internet accessible to eat. I am a lazy cook and baker. I’d rather someone else do the cooking and baking. Hope there are a lot in your household to eat all these goodies.

Jul 23, 2007 | 12:05 pm

fely
says:

What a great way to spend a weekend! Wish we lived near your house, MM! Pls give me the recipe for your pecan squares. Absolutely love pecans and can;t wait to try it. Thanks vm!

Jul 23, 2007 | 2:20 pm

Myra P.
says:

MM and Aridelros, SMB is actually great beer! Trader Joe’s carries Light, Pale and Negra and according to the staff, it goes pretty fast. Check out this famous person drinking SMB… :) He loved it!

DADD-F, I had some dried nectarines which were lugged back from a trip abroad; I stocked up on dried fruit and store them in the fridge…but they last for months. However, I have seen fresh nectarines in some select locations these past few weeks, Rustans sometimes has them along with peaches and plums. Try the big stores on Fridays when stocks get in. The fruit vendor at Salcedo market and I am almost certain Farmers market would have them too…

fely and millet, I wasn’t absolutely thrilled with the results, the filling was fantastic but the crust was super makuti/mabusisi… I suggest a more classic pecan pie instead… I am traveling at the moment so a recipe will have to wait a couple of days or weeks…

Jul 23, 2007 | 4:29 pm

kc
says:

the pictures look great! please give the recipes. especially for the pecan squares.

Just a regular weekend at MM’s? Lucky Kid! :) I love the idea of those brownie crisps!

Jul 23, 2007 | 8:30 pm

starbuxadix
says:

lucky friends! Ãœ

Jul 24, 2007 | 12:09 am

brenda
says:

I’m not much into baking but these pics looks really good and yummy.

Jul 24, 2007 | 3:37 am

nang
says:

DADD-F, you can actually get nectarines at s & r or the fruit stall located in the ground floor of power plant mall in makati. They cost an arm and a leg but if you’re genuinely craving for the fruit, it should be worth every single peso.

Jul 24, 2007 | 12:54 pm

tal
says:

I remember buying nectarines at Farmers about 3 or 4 years ago. They cost a little more than some of the common local fruits in the market, but I don’t remember them being that overly expensive. :)